Giving Thanks

After nearly 5 months I have started making cards again.  We moved house over the summer and it took a long while before I felt settled enough to be creative.  My mojo must have been packed in a box somewhere. But it's back!

My card today is a direct CASE from a beautiful design I saw on Jen Shults blog : deconstructingjen.  She has been a real inspiration to me over these last few weeks.  Her cards are true eye candy and I recommend you go to her blog to check out her beautiful creativity.

Here is a close up shot of the inside :

This card is made from multiple layers and is more like a mini album than a card.  The original idea for this type of card comes from www.splitcoaststampers.com (although it's in the 'tutorial' section somewhere, I don't remember the exact name).  I have been enjoying all the Fall colors here in Alabama (yes, we do have Fall here!) and I wanted to make a card that reflected all the beauty I have seen this week.

Thanks for stopping by - please don't give up on me - I've got lots of other posts planned for this week.





Stamps : Verve (front panel text), Hero Arts (togetherness and greeting text) and Stampin'Up! ('thanks' definition)
Paper : Papertrey Ink Chocolate and Vintage Cream CS, SU! More Mustard and Really Rust CS (retired now I think), Patterned paper from BoBunny
Ink : Memento Rich Cocoa, Tim Holtz Wild Honey Distress Ink
Accessories : Cricut Lacy Labels Cartridge, QuicKutz squeeze leaf die, Copic Markers (on pumpkin), SU! cream organdy ribbon

Thankful Butterfly

Yesterday I was hopping along on the Our Daily Bread blog hop for their new releases this month and was so inspired by what I saw! This particular card was inspired by Chris Olsen on her blog Twinkles Glow with Stamps. If you comment on each of the ODB design team blogs you will be in with a chance to win either $15, $20 or $25 to spend in their online store! Check the Our Daily Bread Blog for more details!

The patterned paper I used as the base for this card is from Stampin'Up about 4 or so years ago, but I still love the colors and patterns. I wanted to include some lace ribbon on this card, but seeing as I do not have any I just used my lace border punch to fake the 'lacy look'. The 'Thank you' sentiment is from a small clear set by Technique Tuesday that I got at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Charlotte last month.

The corner flourishes are from the Cricut Lacy Labels cartridge using one of the label layers. It was originally a circle of flourishes and I just used my small detail scissors to cut the image apart and use two parts for the corner details. I then added the tiny flowers which were the cutouts from a floral border punch. They were so small and fiddly - I had to attach them using teeny tiny glue dots.

Enjoy!



Stamps : Technique Tuesday (sentiment)
Paper : PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Close to Cocoa, SU! Patterned Paper (not sure of the name??)
Ink : VersaMagic Chalk ink Jumbo Java
Accessories : EKSuccess Large Butterfly Punch, Cricut Lacy Labels cartridge, Spellbinders Label Die, Kaisercraft Pearls

Thoughtful Silhouettes (Mojo #153)

I have had this patterned paper in my stash for a couple of years now and I think I have only used it once before, so yesterday I challenged myself to create a card based on the Mojo Monday sketch, using my new Stampin'Up! Hostess set and the SU! paper from 4(?) years ago.

The sketch was a regular quarter size card but with all the layers I was using a square seemed to work better for me. The labels in white and plum are from a brand new Cricut Cartridge that I discovered over the weekend. It's called 'Lacy Labels' and is available exclusively from Wal-Mart (in their range of Cricut 'Lite' cartridges). At $39.99 it's an awesome deal to get over 50 different label die options in one place. And, of course, in any size that the Cricut machine will cut...so plenty of options for cards.

Here is the sketch layout I was working from :



Thanks for stopping by!



Stamps : SU! Hostess Silhouettes
Paper : PTI White, SU! Pale Plum, SU! DP (name??)
Ink : SU! Mellow Moss and Basic Black, VersaMagic Chalk ink Spring Pansy
Accessories : Cricut 'Lacy Labels' Cartridge, Kaisercraft Pearls, Corner rounder, Michaels white satin ribbon

Bird on a Branch

For those of you who've been following my blog for the last little while you will probably be surprised that today's card does not use any Verve stamps anywhere - nor is my card based on a Verve sketch!!!!

I used a friend's Cricut Machine for the bird, branch and large scallops. The design was loosely based on Jen's Sketch for You to Try from a couple of weeks ago but I could not enter it on her blog in good conscience because I departed from the original sketch so much that it ended up being completely different!

See you next week!



Stamps : Stampin'Up! (sentiment)
Paper : PTI (Smokey Shadow and White), Bazzill Basics, Basic Grey Oliver DP
Ink : SU! Basic Black
Accessories : Cricut Machine, SU! Bravo Burgundy Marker, SEI Buttons

Cricut Tree - Mojo145

On Monday night I went to a friend's house to play with her Cricut Expression machine. I only have the original (small!) one so it was fun to see what the bigger one can do and also to play around with some different cartridges. On this card the tree, the green circle and the flourish were cut with the Cricut.

The patterned paper is a new set from Basic Grey called 'Oliver'. I just had to get this set because my 6 year old is named Oliver. He was quite proud when he found out some papers were named after him!

This card is also my interpretation of the Mojo Monday sketch this week :



Hope you are having a great week,



Stamps : SU! Thoughts and Prayers (sentiment)
Paper : PTI (Smokey Shadow and White), Bazzill Basics, Basic Grey Oliver DP
Ink : Memento London Fog
Accessories : Cricut Machine (Serenade Cartridge), Fiskars border punch, white ribbon from ACMoore

Glittered Dragonfly

This card was inspired by a design from Beate Johns on her blog 'Fresh and Fun'. I used her layout, but switched it up using teal patterned paper from TPC Studios, Basic Black, Really Rust and Old Olive cardstock from Stampin'Up! I cut the dragonfly using my Cricut machine. The green patterned circle is from My Little Yellow Bicycle and I faked the scalloped black circle by using smaller scalloped circles and arranging them underneath the Rust circle. The glitter is 'Dazzling diamonds' from either Hero Arts or Stampin'Up! and the cream organdy ribbon is also Stampin'Up!